- ish its ammunition directly from the ammunition wagons near Romainville.
The defenders of Beaune did not receive such assistance however, as only one ammunition wagon was brought up (by the Füsilier-Battalion, 16th Infantry), toward the close of the battle, for the units engaged there. The ammunition it contained was distributed among the men, but was not used. Organizations belonging to the IIIrd Army Corps turned over some of their ammunition, but, in general, the brigade had to rely practically on the ammunition carried by the men, for all the ammunition wagons had driven off at the beginning of the battle. Consequently, this battle was fought almost exclusively with the ammunition carried by the men—about 80 rounds per rifle. As the French attack was not simultaneously directed against the whole front of Beaune, lulls occurred in the fight, which enabled the officers to send a supply of ammunition to the most seriously threatened points of the line. In a well disciplined organization, it is not difficult to send ammunition promptly to the most seriously threatened points by simply passing it along the line. This was actually done at Beaune la Rolande. In consequence of this redistribution, at some points in the cemetery, men fired as many as 200 rounds each, but others fired only 40 or less; the result, however, was the same, for the ammunition was almost exclusively supplied from that carried by the men—80 rounds per rifle. Moreover, a great many cartridges, and even unopened packages of ammunition, were found, on November 29th, in the position occupied by the 38th Brigade.
The following figures give an idea of the amount of ammunition expended at St. Privat by the 2nd Regiment of the Guard. On August 19th, the Ist Battalion required 27,340, the IInd Battalion 17,820, and the Füsilier-Battalion 7,870 rounds to replenish their ammunition supply. When the heavy losses suffered by this regiment are taken into account, the average expenditure of ammunition cannot be considered excessive.[1]
At 10:30 P. M., on August 18th, the Rifle Battalion of the Guard managed to supply each one of its men with 20 rounds of ammunition, without drawing upon the contents of the ammunition wagons, which were left intact.[2]
The expenditure of ammunition on the French side was considerably greater in all the battles. At Champigny, every French infantry soldier carried 118 rounds of ammunition, which did not prove sufficient, however, to meet the demand. In the French Army of the Rhine, the average expenditure of ammunition from August 6th to 31st was 30 rounds, and in the fights of August 16th and 18th, 13 to 27 rounds per rifle. In individual cases, the expenditure of ammunition was far in excess of these figures. The men of Grenier's Division, against which the attack of the 38th Brigade was directed, claim that they fired as many as 150 rounds apiece, on August 16th. In the evening, at the close of the battle, the commanding general
